Fifa official offered ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ for 2018 vote

A former Fifa executive due to be sentenced for corruption has claimed he was offered “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in return for his vote for the 2018 World Cup.

Rafael Salguero, a Guatemalan football administrator convicted over a wide-ranging United States government investigation into the world governing body, told a court in Brooklyn about the bribe. A transcript of his plea hearing, released on Tuesday, revealed how Salguero alleged he was approached on a flight from Mexico to Guatemala by an individual whose name is redacted.

Salguero, who has pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to launder money, said he met with the unnamed person multiple times after their first encounter to discuss the bribe. The transcript also redacts the name of the bid Salguero was told to vote for and the name of another individual, based in Italy, who had offered to provide the cash.

The 2018 World Cup was eventually hosted by Russia following a 2010 vote at Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich. Russia, England and joint bids from Holland and Belgium, and Portugal and Spain were considered for the tournament.

According to the newly released transcript, Salguero told the court in 2016 that, although he voted for the bid he was told to, he never received the money and did not make a trip to Italy as was suggested by the individual offering the bribe.

“About three or four weeks after the vote I tried calling [redacted] at the cell phone number he had given me, but he never picked up or returned the call. I tried to contact [redacted] because I wanted to tell him that I had voted for [redacted] and I wanted to meet [redacted] in Italy to collect this money that [redacted] said [redacted] had for me,” Salguero said, adding that his calls were not returned.

More than 40 individuals and entities were indicted as part of the US Justice Department’s investigation into Fifa. In the first case, which was brought to trial last year, the former heads of the Paraguayan and Brazilian football federations were found guilty on multiple corruption charges.